Armed men suspected to be ADF militants killed at least 19 people and set a hospital on fire, in a raid on a village in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo early on Sunday morning.
Residents in the community including two regional officials confirmed that the onslaught, which occurred in Kirindera village, North Kivu province, took place just a few kilometres from another attack on a village that killed at least 35 people last week.
The army said Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan armed group based in eastern Congo that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State is responsible for the attack. A civil society member who is a resident of a nearby community equally blamed Sunday’s attack on the ADF.
He said the militants kidnapped several others, who are now missing. The details of the burned buildings and the death toll were confirmed by two regional officials.
The ADF which has been blamed for thousands of deaths in the last decade was created in Uganda before relocating to eastern Congo in the 1990s.
The mass murder has continued despite efforts by the army, which is also fighting the rebel group M23, whose offensive in recent months has displaced 600,000 people. Congo says the group is backed by neighbouring Rwanda, which Rwanda denies.
A UN Security Council delegation toured North Kivu this weekend for an impact assessment of the crisis and living conditions of displaced people.
“There are no magic solutions, it’s not the United Nations that will solve the problem on its own…We need a political negotiation, we need a security solution,” said Nicolas de Riviere, the French ambassador to the UN.
Copyright: News Central TV
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from News Central TV.
